WRITER

James Thurber

1894 - 1961

Photo of James Thurber

Icon of person James Thurber

James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist, and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in The New Yorker and collected in his numerous books. Thurber was one of the most popular humorists of his time and celebrated the comic frustrations and eccentricities of ordinary people. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of James Thurber has received more than 1,188,652 page views. His biography is available in 29 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 27 in 2019). James Thurber is the 3,939th most popular writer (down from 3,777th in 2019), the 5,136th most popular biography from United States (down from 5,060th in 2019) and the 420th most popular American Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.2M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 50.42

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 29

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 2.75

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.12

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

My life and hard times
American Humorists, American wit and humor, Cartoonists
1933
Thurber country
American Humorous stories, Humorismo estadounidense, Man-woman relationships
1901
The Thurber carnival
Social life and customs, American Humorous stories, Humor
Collection of very funny stories about his family in Ohio during the early 1900s. You will laugh when you read it! BarbiJ, Manahawkin NJ
1945
The middle-aged man on the flying trapeze
American essays, American wit and humor
1935
Lanterns & lances
American wit and humor
1960
The 13 Clocks
Fiction, Uncles, Princesses
"There has never been anything like this before, and there will never be anything like this again…[Thurber] takes such delight in the words. It's like it's written by somebody who wants to infect you with his love of words. There are poems hidden in the text. There are places where it wanders into rhyme and out again. There are all of the invented words. The story itself is nonsense in the finest possible way." —Neil Gaiman, interviewed in The Wall Street Journal
1950

Among WRITERS

Among writers, James Thurber ranks 3,939 out of 7,302. Before him are Vasily Trediakovsky, Christiane Amanpour, Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, Francisco Coloane, Aleksei Kruchyonykh, and Elizabeth Strout. After him are William of Apulia, Josefina Pla, Vera Komissarzhevskaya, John Norman, Arundhati Roy, and Yuri Rytkheu.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1894, James Thurber ranks 161. Before him are Tibor Déry, Berdi Kerbabayev, Walter Piston, Alfred Berger, José Bustamante y Rivero, and Ernesto Ambrosini. After him are Henry Daniell, Vladimir Triandafillov, Goro Yamada, Edgar Jung, Oskar Maria Graf, and Wilhelm Hasse. Among people deceased in 1961, James Thurber ranks 118. Before him are Nadezhda Udaltsova, Elia Dalla Costa, Kiyotake Kawaguchi, Richmond K. Turner, Grigory Levenfish, and Beppo Levi. After him are Giulio Cabianca, Maneca, Eduard Tisse, Jeff Chandler, Ralf Törngren, and Olav Bjaaland.

Others Born in 1894

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Others Deceased in 1961

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In United States

Among people born in United States, James Thurber ranks 5,136 out of 20,380. Before him are Greta Gerwig (1983), Johnny Thunders (1952), Carlos Hathcock (1942), Ross Ulbricht (1984), Elizabeth Strout (1956), and Tony Accardo (1906). After him are Eileen Heckart (1919), Stephen Root (1951), Sid Haig (1939), Ann Blyth (1928), John Norman (1931), and Eugene Parker (1927).

Others born in United States

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, James Thurber ranks 420. Before him are Michael Blake (1945), Carrie Nation (1846), Robert E. Sherwood (1896), Katherine Anne Porter (1890), Elmer Rice (1892), and Elizabeth Strout (1956). After him are John Norman (1931), Susanna Kaysen (1948), Pauline Kael (1919), Maxwell Anderson (1888), Ralph Ellison (1914), and Tad Williams (1957).

American born Writers

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous